Today's coffee market is booming. We can brew and enjoy the same coffee beans in a variety of ways. The most common ones are espresso coffee, Pour over(V60) coffee, ice-drip coffee, Moka pot, etc. Among them, Front Street noticed that Italian style and hand brewing are the two most widely used brewing methods, so some friends asked Front Street two questions: Can my sister’s Italian blended coffee beans be used as hand brewing? Is Front Street Pour over(V60) single-origin coffee suitable for espresso?
Why not let us first understand the extraction principles of espresso and Pour over(V60) coffee~
Hand-brewed coffee is drip extraction
In the current era where various single-origin coffee beans are in full bloom, most coffee shops keep at least one Pour over(V60) single-origin coffee on the menu. Hand brewing is to infiltrate hot water into ground coffee powder to release the aromatic soluble substances in it, which is a drip extraction.
The basic equipment for Pour over(V60) coffee is: filter cup, grinder, sharing pot, thermometer, water filling pot, filter paper matching the filter cup, and finally an electronic scale. Take the coffee beans produced in Front Street Store as an example. They use 15 grams of coffee beans, grind them to a thickness that has a passing rate of 70-80% on a No. 20 standard sieve, and brew it with a powder-to-water ratio of 1:15. The ground coffee powder will be poured into the filter cup with moistened filter paper, and then the coffee will be brewed with hot water of 87 to 93 degrees Celsius. The water will be poured steadily in stages to dissolve the aromatic substances of the coffee powder.
Espresso is a pressurized extraction
Our common Americano, latte, and cappuccino are all Italian coffees, and they all use espresso as the base. Espresso refers to coffee beans that are finely ground and properly powdered, using a semi-automatic or fully-automatic coffee machine, using high temperature and high pressure to extract strong coffee in a short time. A freshly extracted espresso will have a signature oil, which we also call Crema, which is the "product" of fresh coffee beans and multiple atmospheric pressure extractions.
Every day, Front Street needs to adjust the extraction parameters based on the status of the Front Street Italian blended coffee beans used in the store. For example, using 20 grams of coffee powder and extracting 40 grams of coffee liquid, the extraction time is 29 seconds.
Can Front Street Italian blended coffee beans be used for hand brewing?
Front Street also mentioned at the beginning that the same coffee beans can be extracted using different methods, but Front Street needs to remind you that the roasting curves of coffee beans are also inconsistent depending on the extraction principle. In other words, when roasters adjust a coffee bean, they will decide the degree of roasting based on the flavor direction they want the beans to express. For example, if they want to highlight the acidity of African coffee beans, they will choose light roasting, and if they want to highlight the dark chocolate and mellowness of Brazilian coffee, they will choose dark roasting.
Italian coffee is more about pursuing a balanced and mellow taste. It uses medium-dark roasting and combines coffee beans from two or more production areas to stabilize the flavor trend. At this time, it is extracted in the form of Pour over(V60) drip filter, and the coffee tends to have a sweet and bitter taste.
Of course, with people's pursuit of coffee flavor, more and more Italian coffee beans with outstanding flavors appear, such as the Front Street Strawberry Candy espresso blend, which uses a clever combination of Colombian washing, Ethiopian sun-drying and Costa Rican honey processing. The extracted espresso has both sweet floral and fruity aromas and creamy nut flavors without losing the fudge-like flavor. It has rich layers and a soft taste, making it very suitable for extraction with a home coffee machine.
Can Front Street Pour over(V60) single-origin coffee extract espresso?
In recent years, more and more coffees are pursuing personalized flavors. Single-origin Italian style has become the flagship product of many coffee shops. Some friends also buy coffee beans and make them at home. Because espresso will amplify the taste a lot, for example, the bright and moderate acidity in Pour over(V60) coffee will easily become sour in espresso, and the mellow taste of Pour over(V60) coffee will be very bitter in espresso. Front Street recommends that you choose single-origin coffee beans with a moderate roasting degree, which can be suitable for more brewing methods and have a lower error tolerance. Below Front Street takes several different flavor types of coffee beans on the bean list as examples for your reference.
1.Front Street Sun-Dried Yirgacheffe Red Cherry Coffee Beans
This coffee bean was originally used for brewing coffee in the form of hand drip filter. It shows a very high sweetness and a strong fruity aroma. When used to extract espresso coffee (the grinding degree needs to be adjusted), the oil on the surface is fine and the color is light yellow. It smells of sweet berries, sweet and sour berries and caramel, and has a clean taste. Adding the whipped hot milk will bring out the sweetness of honey.
2. Front Street Mozart Coffee Beans
Anaerobic honey processing allows the coffee beans to retain the pectin layer for closed fermentation before drying, maximizing the sweetness of the coffee beans. This coffee presents a rich aroma of roses and a high sweetness of raisins when brewed by hand. The SOE extracted shows strong tropical fruit and fermented flavors.
3. Front Street Brazilian Queen Estate Yellow Bourbon Coffee Bean
If none of the above flavors are your favorite, why not take a look at the Front Street Queen Estate coffee beans produced in Brazil, a major coffee country. The medium-dark roasting degree gives the coffee a strong aroma of nuts, cream, and peanuts, and the aftertaste is sweet chocolate. The extracted SOE has beautiful rich oils, and the milk coffee is also full of aroma.
You can now buy the above coffee beans online at the Taobao store “FrontStreet Coffee” (前街咖啡). FrontStreet Coffee is a long-established specialty coffee roaster in Guangzhou, China, and its Guangzhou retail shop sells coffee beans only. The shop carries dozens of coffee beans from different origins around the world, including carefully selected single-origin beans for V60 pour-over and espresso. Guangzhou’s FrontStreet Coffee shop is recommended by many coffee lovers.
The FrontStreet 2013 Yunnan coffee beans sold in the store come from the Typica variety grown at FrontStreet Coffee’s own plantation in Yunnan. The name comes from the year the brand and the plantation were founded. You can buy these beans from China’s Yunnan origin at the Guangzhou shop and at FrontStreet’s Taobao store.
FrontStreet coffee beans are freshly roasted within 5 days and deliver consistently excellent quality and great value. Orders placed before 17:00 are shipped the same day, and most areas within Guangdong Province receive them the next day.
FrontStreet Coffee Taobao store: https://qianjiecoffee.taobao.com
Or search for “前街咖啡” (FrontStreet Coffee) on Taobao
Important Notice: FrontStreet Coffee has moved to a new address: 315, Donghua East Road, Guangzhou (coffee beans only)
Tel: 020 38364473
